Ghosts, in a Metaphorical Sense
by lesbianpapyrus
Summary: Napstablook and Happstablook have a serious but clarifying conversation.


"Hey, Happy… are you feeling okay?"

Happstablook sighed from their position on the floor. "No, I'm feeling like garbage, actually," they joked. "Wanna join me?"

"Okay." Napstablook lay themselves on the floor next to their cousin.

A few minutes passed quietly.

"You've been… doing this all day… I noticed."

Happstablook jumped; usually Napstablook was not one to break the silence. "I'm fine," they replied, deliberately glancing away from their cousin.

"You've never done this all day before…"

Happstablook sighed again. "I guess… it's just…" They turned over, facing away from Napstablook. "Blooky, have you ever… just wanted to be different?"

"Oh no, I don't think so," fretted Napstablook, sitting up. "People look at you… and they judge you… and then you feel like garbage, but not in a good way…"

"Well, yeah, but… people might love you, too." Happstablook turned back over to meet Napstablook's eyes. "People are always looking for something new. But honestly, I'm not even talking about _that_ kind of different. I mean, just… different from the way you are right now. You want to look some other way, act some other way, do something other than what you have to do."

"Oh… not really."

"You've _never_ wanted to become corporeal? Or just do something other than what our parents wanted us to do?"

Napstablook suddenly looked very frightened. "I—I like the farm. Don't you…? You're not going to leave me, are you…?"

"No, no, of course not!" Happstablook turned over on their stomach. "I just—I'm not like you, Napstablook. I mean, I don't _dislike_ the farm, but it's just not… me. It's not something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life… however long that ends up being," they added bitterly (ghost life spans were supposed to be infinite as long as the ghost had the will to live). "But I promise—" they said seriously, scooting up to Napstablook and snuggling in their side, "I'm not going to leave you."

Napstablook seemed soothed. "Okay."

Both ghosts lay back down on the floor.

"So… what kind of life _do_ you want?"

Happstablook stared at the ceiling. "This is going to sound really silly, but… you know that monster who came to my Human Fan Club meeting last week? Alphys? She brought all these cartoons from the surface with her… most of them were pretty horrible, but one of them was about a movie star." They smiled. "They did more than just movies, though… they made music and sang, and they hung out with their fans. They were gorgeous and funny, and everyone loved them… for a long time, Blooky, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I just knew the farm wasn't for me, long term anyway. But this cartoon—I think it helped me finally figure it out. I want… I want to be a star."

Napstablook was silent for a minute, then sighed. "That sounds really amazing, Happy… I wish I could be brave enough to do something like that."

"But you can!" Happstablook sat back up excitedly. "I don't have to be a star alone! They all have tons of people who work with them. You could be my DJ! Or my music composer! And maybe—maybe we can convince Shyren to come too! She could be my backup singer. We don't have any stars yet in the Underground… everyone would love us." They flopped down, unable to hide the grin on their face. "We'd finally stop being… ghosts."

"Why would we have to stop being ghosts?"

"Oh, no, I meant… ghosts, in a metaphorical sense. Nobody really pays attention to us. Nobody sees us… mainly because they don't bother to look," explained Happstablook sadly. Then they brightened. "But all that would change if we were stars. We'd finally get the appreciation and love we deserve."

"I already appreciate and love you…" said Napstablook shyly.

"Oh, of course! I love you, too," Happstablook cried, horrified. "I just meant, we'd start getting it from _other_ people." _And I'd finally be able to love myself,_ they added in their head. _I just can't, right now, when I look like this…_

"Well… if that's your dream, Happy, then… I hope you get it," Napstablook declared with a rare smile. "Promise me and Shyren can share in it, if we want to?"

"Of course, Blooky." Happstablook nuzzled them. "I wouldn't let you miss it for the world."

The ghosts went back to feeling like garbage, satisfied. Happstablook didn't really feel like garbage anymore, though. They felt happy; they couldn't believe they'd managed to get their timid, overly-content-in-their-boring-life cousin to go along with their plan!

 _Now if only I can make them understand why I want to change my identity completely…_

 _So I can finally stop feeling like a ghost._

 **oooooooooo**

A/N: another request!

this was almost a bit of practice for something I'll have to write in the future *wink*

hope you enjoy!


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